Onofrio Look-alike Meter

HA!

Oh-Oh, Hello! That's Five Months! Five months not much...

Lucy is now rolling over like a pro---usually every time I put her down she flips over. Consistently eating solids and trying new things. Lately she's been loving Stoneyfield Farms 'Yo Baby,' banana yogurt mixed with her oatmeal. She's pulling her toys down from any over hanging arch like her car-seat handle or the kick-and-crawl. She's also tried out the Exersaucer and likes it. She has also developed some mild stranger anxiety. Nothing too bad, but it's sad to see her in hysterics when she's being held by someone who loves her. We've been playing a lot of "Row, row, row, your boat," which she loves and gotten some new books from the library. She's developing her tactile senses and loves to scratch and feel different material. She's eager to see new things but mostly from my lap. She's found her feet and likes to play with her toes, and is trying really hard to sit up.

Now you see it, now you don't...

Inspired by Jennifer's post about Boysenberry Yogurt, here is a list of things I liked that have been discontinued:

1.) Tony's Quesadilla Pizza
2.) Pizzeria Chips
3.) Godiva Ice Cream Bars
4.) Bath and Body Works: White Tea Ginger
5.) Cheesy Beefy Melt--temporarily---thank goodness
6.) Pudding Pops
7.) Vanilla Coke---but it's back now.
8.) Welch's White Grape Juice in the Carton

This is all that comes to mind right now...anyone have anything to add?

Lemonade

I spend a lot of my time fantasizing about home ownership. I think about where I want to live, I look up home prices, I talk about it all the time. "When we have a house...." "I can't wait to have..." I've been really trying to appreciate every day for what it is. I enjoy every moment I spend rocking Lucy and trying not to say, "I can't wait till'." I been one of those people who has been looking forward to the "next" thing to be happy. Not that I don't have goals or think it's good to have them, but I'm making a more concerted effort to be happy with what I have and where I am. Yesterday during my Soc class we watched this PBS documentary called, "People Like Us," and there was one woman featured who has really had a difficult time of things. I don't usually take things for granted, but seeing her I realized my apartment really isn't that bad.

Things I didn't eat...

Oh, it was bad. So bad.

Hippity Hoppity

We had a really nice Easter weekend which included a visit from Grammi and an Easter egg hunt at the Vos'.

Baby Food and Generosity

I have a new obsession...a baby food grinder. I love it. Grammi brought it for us, and I love it. I've been a grinding fool...I did sweet potatoes, bananas and pears today.

On another note...a word about generosity. Today I bought the first real thing we've needed for Lucy. When she was first born we bought her a couple of "preemie" size pajamas because she didn't fit in anything. Other than that---nothing...not a diaper, not a wipe, nothing. All because of the generosity of our family and friends. So, yesterday I bought diapers...and I got a great deal! I found the deal on babycheapskate. Luvs jumbo size for $6.99 and with a $1.50 coupon. 50 diapers for $5.50! Thank you to everyone for all the help and love for Little Lu.

Last Weekend

Well, I said I would post something about our trip to UC last weekend when I felt better and I'm still sick and so is Little Lu. Her cough sounds horrible---poor thing. We rubbed her up with the baby Vick's and tilted her mattress and have the humidifier going but every time I hear her sad little (big) cough I feel like an awful mother. Anyway, last weekend we went to UC and spent time with Grammi and Grandpa. We went to look at this cool old house---not that we're moving, but it's fun to look---it had 5 bedrooms, was nearly 3,000 sq. feet and had a detached two story garage with a workshop. It had very cool old wood moulding and ivy growing over the outside---guess how much? Okay---I'll tell you. $129k. We went and played with Carter and Walker at Tahmee's and went to dinner at a great pizzeria in Homer called Cascarelli's. Yum.

Sandhill Cranes

Hilda

Well, I've been hovering at the same weight for two weeks now. I know I need to step up my exercise efforts. I am happy with the progress I've made so far though. I'll take a little plateau. I can handle it.

What about dogs? Can we talk to dogs?

It was so nice out on Friday, Lucy and I went for a nice little walk. It was great to get out of the house and into the sunshine. I spend the whole time talking to her. I felt like that commercial with the mom talking to her kid in line at the atm and you think she might be nuts but then you see the child and you realize she's just talking to him. That was me. "Here we go Lucy, up the bridge, one-two-three-up-up-up...Oh look there's something shiny on the ground...that's a pick-up truck. It's silver. Silver is a color. It has a "bed" in the back, but it's not a bed to sleep in, I'm not sure why they call it a bed. Usually people who work in construction use these kind of trucks because they have to haul things around...that bird is a mourning dove, I'm not sure why it's called a mourning dove, maybe because it sounds like they're crying." You get the idea. It was great.

Happy St. Patty's Day

It's here! One of my favorite holidays. What? No mass? I-R-I-S-H...Go! Go Irish! Me and Lucy are sick today and corned beef sounds nasty---we'll have to come up with some ways to be "green" today. I am wearing green-ish pajamas. I'll post about our weekend once I've gotten a little more sleep.

Lucy has the best Daddy

Wheat Grass

Does anyone know where I can find seeds?

THEY'RE BACK!!!!

I don't know if it was by popular demand but they're back. The Cheesy Beefy Melt. When I got home from class last night my husband told me and I actually called Taco Bell to verify. I splurged a lot...and had 2! So worth it.

This one is mostly for Grammi...

Camera Tricks

I was playing with my camera a lot this week and finally figured out how to use the "color accent" and "color swap" features. It is such a great little camera, I love it. Here are some of the pictures I took.

Book Reviews

I read the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer and loved it! I read all three books in less than a week. Every possible second was spent reading. I think they are great fantasy/romantic/sci-fi books. I like sci-fi where you think it could happen...like it starts with normal people who find out crazy things about themselves or in this case, others. I am really looking forward to book number 4 which comes out in August, and the upcoming film. When I looked up the pictures of the cast they looked like what I expected them to look like which was nice. These books definitely allow you to escape so if you need a cheap vacation this is the ticket. Two big thumbs up!



I also read The Ladies Auxiliary. It was also very good. It was about a tight-knit Jewish community and what happens when an outsider moves in and causes them to examine themselves. I could relate it a lot to LDS culture because we're also tight-knit and work hard to nurture and protect our families. I enjoyed it. Two thumbs up!

Hilda update

NOT A FLUKE! I'm so excited. I've lost between 10 and 12 pounds. The scale fluctuates between those two numbers. I'm excited! I think the accelerated weight loss is due to the extra breast feeding calorie burning. My jeans are way too big now. I squeezed myself into my tier 2 skinny jeans. I don't think my hips will ever be the same. I say tier 2 because they are definitely skinny jeans, but not my ideal skinny jeans, which I pulled out of storage the other night and man---they are little! A few more sizes to go. Even the tier 2 jeans were too tight to be comfortable. I think they'll have to stay in the closet for a little longer, but I could get them buttoned. I have had some rough days where my self-control is weak but other days that are easier when I'm not so tempted. Some key things that are helping me stay in check are my "Ratatootie" theory-no calories wasted on something that's not excellent, portion control, and fun exercise. Thank you Comcast.

Trauma-Rama

When I was in grade school, one of my BFFs, Mandy, had a subscription to Seventeen magazine. I thought it was so cool. Seventeen magazine was something I was sure neither my sister or my dad would approve of but oh how I wished I'd had my own subscription. Many hours were spent on the phone with her giving me the quizzes and talking about the articles. She saved most of the back issues so when I would spend the night at her house I would totally indulge in this guilty pleasure. In each issue there was an article entitled "Trauma-rama" in which people would write in about their most embarrassing stories and then the editors at Seventeen would rate how embarrassing they were. I'm not sure if it means I was "tagged," because I'm not really sure what that means, but Jennifer said I should post about my own piercing experience. Hence the title, "Open the Present you brought as fast as you can," oh...wait...no, "Trama Rama." For some reason thinking about my own ear piercing experience makes me think about other traumatic experiences in my life and one stands out in this vein so I'm making this a double whammy of embarrassing stories about me. Please know that these are only 2 MILD embarrassing stories in an endless arsenal of incriminating information. Let me preface by saying I used to be a huge wuss and worrywart. I worried about EVERYTHING as a kid. So when I turned the magical age of ear piercing it would be putting it mildly to say I was terrified. My sister was coming from East Lansing and her, my Dad, and brother-in-law came. I even remember that I was wearing an oversized, "Michigan" sweatshirt. For weeks prior to the big event my Dad would tell me horror stories involving bloody ears and gangrene and my ears falling off. He's a big teaser. So...we went to the Southwyck mall...I found these pictures online and I could SMELL the place and had sooo many memories flood into my mind. Southwyck mall was the closest to our house and was the first mall I "hung out" at as a kid/pre-teen. There was a movie theatre attached with now that I think about it, tiny little theatres which is where I saw my first movie in a group with boys!! Again, with Mandy. Okay...on with it. We got to the little jewelry store, Corey's Jewel Box and I picked out little gold ball posts...I'm sure with my sister's influence...I usually wanted to do everything she did. So, I got in the chair and I'm sure my face was white as a sheet and the lady marked a little dot on my lobes to show where the earrings would be. I was too petrafied to care...they could have been in the middle of my forehead for as much as I was paying attention. So then she got out the piercing gun. Doesn't the use of the word gun make it seem so much worse? Count down, 1-2-3, one ear pierced! Now was that so bad? YES! I must have looked as awful as I felt, probably close to, if not in tears. The gun girl must have noticed because she suggested we walk around the mall a little bit to calm down before doing ear #2. So, we walked around the mall. I can still remember feeling like EVERYONE would notice I had one ear pierced and one ear markered. Oh, I was such a baby. So after some coaxing, prodding and persuading, which I'm sure included something like, "Why don’t you go sit on a bench! " "you can't have just one ear pierced," so I finally went back, and endured the other ear being pierced. And it hurt. A lot. But looking back, it didn't hurt nearly as bad as the pinching my sister did to my ear in order to prepare me for the possible (inevitable) piercing pain. In subsequent years I got my cartilage pierced, oh I thought I was a rebel, and lobes double pierced, (both times by convincing the piercing girl that my friend's big sister was my legal guardian and that my other friend's mom was my mom, and her mom and our other friend's mom...so she had fraternal triplets?). Apparently those piercing laws are pretty flexible. I have retained only the first, traumatic pair. Okay---that was enough revelation for one day. You'll have to stay tuned for trauma number 2.

So fierce!

Congratulations Christian!

Q. So, does how you're depicted on the show resemble what you are really like?

A. It's really scary and embarrassing, but who I am on TV is really who I am in life.

read the whole interview here.

Happy Happy Birthday Emily Dear!

My favorite niece turns 12 today. I just can't believe it. I am so proud of her...she is such a good example to me. I love you so much Ems, I hope you have the BEST DAY EVER! You are beautiful.

To eat...

Lucy ate her first solid food!!!!
I fed her Nature's Best Oatmeal Cereal.
She seemed to like it, no allergic reaction.
I think some of it actually ended up in her belly.


Something exciting is happening....I can almost taste it!

Mmm...I like it...

Can I have some more?

Wait...I think there's still some on my bib.

or not to eat...

The last few days have been extra tough. Since Thursday I've had a few things that weren't exactly on the diet. I ate Taco Bell(!) and an omelet at Zach's(!). They tasted great and I was honestly scared to get back on the scale, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. It wasn't bad at all actually, it was really really good. I think I might have helped my metabolism stay up...or it was a fluke, I don't know. But it gave me the resolve to get back on program. I resisted one of my favorite sweet treats and worked out. Also, when I was turning on my workout program I noticed that there's a section for Jillian, my favorite trainer from Biggest Loser, anyway, there wasn't anything in the category but I'm hoping there will be. I like her drill sargent style. I'll actually post a "pounds lost" entry soon if I find that my weight this morning was a fact not a fluke.
I can smell the creamy, fluffy frosting.

I have the best family.

Then and Now

"Daddy---I'm not tired anymore."

Four months old already...can you believe it? I didn't think my life could change so dramatically in such a short period of time. Lately we've been enjoying Dr. Seuss...I think she likes the rhyming, rolling over...a handful of times, "talking" or "singing," and the "up-down game" with Daddy. She is 24 inches long and weighs 14 lbs. 8 oz. She hasn't lost any hair yet and the roots are blonde. I'm not sure what color it will turn out to be.